Lady&#39;s undergarment



Patented pee. 7, 19er UNITED s'TATEs PATENT OFFIC 2,101,6M LADYS UNDERGAEN'E Theodore J. Smutny, New York, N. Y., assigner to Collegiate Manufacturing Co.,v Ine., New York, N. Y., a corporation ot New York 'application august s, i937, sensi No. 157,469

s exams. (en. a-vsi The invention relates to wearing apparel, especially to undergarments such as ladies slips. Its advantages, however, are also apparent when embodied in the fabrication of any intimate garment of this type, for instance, a chemise.

More particularly, the invention relates to an undergarment or slip oi' the general type illustrated in my Patent No. 2,053,227, dated Septem- 'ber 1, 1936, which garment embodies certain improvements in the fabrication thereof. including the assembly of certain oi' the component portions thereof in which the material is assembled with the duplex panels constituted of bias cut material.

An object ofthe invention is to provides. gar- 4ment oi .this general class which will overcome certain difficulties and' disadvantages characterizing an undergarment in which separate panels or pieces of material are joined, for instance, by

, stitching, so as to constitute a weak point of juncture where the material has a tendency to give and lto tear by reason of the absence of elasticity in the material at the point of `such juncture.

Itis well recognized by those skilled in the artA` of fabricating slips, chemises or the like, thatl the weakest point of the garment is at the portion thereof constituting a V-type juncture of the two yokes oi materialln both the front and the back sections of the garment. When the wearer oi such a garment indulges in any activity, bringing into play a movement of the shoulders, the strains and l stresses produced by such movement and transmitted to the rather closely fittinggarment, the tendency of the material of the garment is to give at the point of such juncture of the two yokes. As the point of juncture is very ilrm and therefore is characterized vby very little, if any,

elasticity, the material immediately adjacent the point of juncture is placed under an undue strain and eventually tears or otherwise disintegrates so that any advantages gained through the cutting of the material.' constituting the component parts assuming a sitting position, are not .compensated by the bias cutting of the material of the garment.

In accordancewith the present invention, I I

provide an undergarment of this general class, including a slip and a chemise, so as to impart to such garments a freedom from strains and stresses that might otherwise be imparted by a free swing-v `ing motion, both sidewise and longitudinally. I

accomplish this object byproviding, in the back ot the garment, two adjoining and partially superposed, but separate, pieces of 4strips of elastic positioned at a bias at the pointer the garment where in the usual construtionof such slip the two solid yoke pieces are joined. By the provision of these two bias disposed elastic inserts, placed in position'so as to overlap partially, a free movement of the wearer fis permitted without binding and providing the utmost comfort during periods of activity `oi the wearer not'only during indulgence in active working or recreational movements, but in the course of any movement in` which a strain or stress would otherwise be imparted to the point of juncture of the two Isolid yoke Ipieces'. Thus, for enample, if a wearer in moving about raises one shoulder, the strain is absorbed by the elastic stretching a small degree longitudinally or in the direction of its free edge.

-No ldiscomfort will thus be experienced by the wearer because of any binding action 'of the slip. If the wearer has to w over, the slip will expand with the expansion of the various parts oi the body, permitted by the slight stretching oi' the elastic strips, so that .theslip will stayin perfect position on the body without undue strain placed thereon.

I am. aware that with certain types or undergarments. forinstance, that embodyinga brassire with a body4 encircling portion so that the v whole constitutes a slip, a strip of elastic is ln sertedlaterally across the back, fand in such garment, however. the elastic strip has only a sidewise or lateral parallel expansion. With the angular movement possible vwith-mv novel slip in which the yelastic is capable of stretching along a line at an angle to the horizontal, a greater freedom of movement, without bindingand with no discomfort, is possible. Furthermore, with such bras' sire type of slip the elastic strip is necessarily of some lengthaand can therefore be only applied to a low-cu (i, e. low back) slip.

The elastic strips characterizing my novel slip may lie-inserted into a garment ofthe type disclosed in my Patent No. 2,053,227 hereinabove reieri-ed to, without distorting or nullifying the feature oi such slip. i. e., its reversibility, but it is to be understood 'that my 4novel construction, as hereinafter more particularly described, is equally applicable to any other type of slip, chemise, or intimate garment of the same general character.

In the drawing, in which I have illustrated my invention as embodied in a slip, Fig. 1 is a view in rear perspective of the garment; Fig. 2 is anenlarged detail view of the upper central portion of the rear section of the slip, showing the elastic inserts; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-4 of Fig. 2; and Figs. 4 and 5 are sections on the lines 4-4 and 5 5, respectively, of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Vthe slip comprises a body-encircling tubular portion It, to the upper edges of which is secured by lines of stitching Il, the bust-encircling pprtion i2, constituted of a plurality of duplex panels I3, Il', I5, and i6, of which the first two are the rear panelsand the latter two the front panels. In accordance with my invention, the two rear [panels it and i4, instead of being connected by that various changes therein, particularly in the a v-ioint to each other and to the body portion of theslip, have their apices cut off to form a substantially rectangular cut-out and replaced by two separate pieces of elastic material I1 and il, partially overlapping. and secured along their vertical edges to the panels I3 and Il by stitching.

i9 and 20, and to the body of the garment by stitching 2l and 22.

The two elastic inserts are of substantially triangular configuration, but more accurately`trap-- ezoidal in area, the two opposite parallel sides thereof being secured to opposite panels of the bust-encircling portion of the garment, with the hypotenuse or longest edges 23 and 24 crossing each other'in substantially the upper center of the rear section of the slip.

As shown in Fig. 3, the tubular body portion I0 is turned inwardly at the upper center thereof to constitute the lnturned edge 25, and a separate piece of material 28, of double ply is secured lthereto by stitching 21. the upper, turned-in portion of the piece 28 constituting the anchor piece for the bottom edges of elasticzinsertsli and i8, the stitching 2| and 22 passing through such lnturned portion of the piece 2l.

The elastic inserts i1 and IU are preferably yof ribbed construction, with the ribs thereof disposed as shown in Fig. 2. 'Ihe inserts -are thus interposed in the space between the adlacent edges of the panels and Il, on the bias, 'and when a pull is exerted, during movement of the wearer, a's by bending or otherwise 'moving the shoulders, or either o! them, the elastic insert is capable of stretching in the direction of the parallel ribs. As a matter of fact, such pull upon the apex of (he substantially triangular insert eiects a flexing of the longest edge'z or 25 whereby such edge assumes a somewhat curved, extended delineation, and thus prevents pull on the opposite panel of the garment section, whereby binding or an otherwise uncomfortable stress would be produced. l While I have described a particular embodiment of my invention, and have illustrated its application to a particular type of intimate garment, it is obviousthat it may be applied in the fabrication of 'any design or type of such garment, and

disposition .and configuration of the elastic inserts, so long as their advantages and general features hereinabove set forth; are embodied or retained, maybe made without departing from my invention.

I claim: g

l. An intimate garment `of the class described.

comprising a tubular body member of material cut-on the bias and adapted to encircle the body of the wearer below the bust line, and an upper member of material cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, said upper member having panels at the back of the garment, the upper edge of the back having a cut-out substantially at the center, said cut-out having bottom and side edges, the latter being at an angle to the bottom edge, a pair of partially overlapping elastic inserts of substantially triangular confguration secured at their edges to the edges ofthe cut-out, the inserts also having continuous horizontally disposed bottom edges secured to the Ilower edge of the cut-out, one side edge of each of the inserts being secured to a side edge of the cut-out, said inserts being positioned so that their principal direction of stretch is at an angie to each of the edges of the cutout, whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer strain is reduced at the point of juncture of the edges of the cut-out and a freely swinging movement of the body is permitted without binding or other discomfort to the wearer.

2. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular body member of material cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body of the wearer below the bust line, and an upper member of material cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, said uppe` member having panels at the back of the garment, the upper edge of`the back of the garment having a substantially U-shaped cut-out, the lower edge oi the cut-out being continuously horizontal. a pair of partially overlapping elastic webbed inserts of substantially triangular con-` iiguration, said inserts having continuous horizontally disposed bottom edges secured to the lower edge of the cut-out, the side edge of each of the inserts being secured to a side edge of the cut-out, the webbing in said inserts being positioned with its principal direction of stretch at an angle to the lower and side edges of the cut-out, whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer strain is reduced at the, point of juncture of the edges of the cut-out and a freely swinging movement of the body is permitted without binding or other discomfort to the wearer.

3. An intimate garment of the class described comprising a tubular body member of material cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body .ofthe wearer below the bust line. and an upper triangular configuration. said inserts having continuous horizontally disposed bottom edges secured to the lower edge of the cut-out, the side edge of each of theinserts being secured to a side edge of the cut-out, the inserts being positioned so that their principal direction o f stretch is at an angle to each of the edges of the cutout, whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer strain is reduced at the corners of the cut-out and a freely swinging movement of the body is permitted without binding or other discomfort to-the wearer.

' THEODORE J. SMUTNY. 

